Stepford Smile
by TheStarstorm
Summary: Ness's journey to free his mind.


The place where Ness woke up was warm and sunny. Nearby, he could see a melted snowman.

Behind him, he could see his house with the blue roof, though the glare of the Sun was such that he couldn't see in through the windows. Next to it was Porky's house — larger than his — with its purple roofs. The green grass under his feet and all around was paled by the sunlight, which imparted upon it a yellow hue. There was a stream nearby, the water purplish for some reason. Nearby, Ness could see tomatoes — huge ones — and little black rabbits walking on two feet. They all observed him with their eyes of pure white.

Ness could move his arms and legs again, and it didn't hurt anymore. And the layout of this world, the realm of his mind, was etched into his memory with improbable precision. He could likely tell the shortest route to get back to the centre, and the exact number of steps the journey would take him, provided that there were no detours.

His mind made up, he proceeded. Past the flowers that smiled even as they looked at the Sun, even as the blinding light brought tears to their eyes. One of his former friends, the short boy whose eyes were always covered by his hat, came and grabbed his arm. He called a greeting, but left when Ness didn't respond.

Ness could hear someone crying. A cursory glance told him that it was Picky, tears streaming from under his bowl cut. Porky munched away at Picky's cookies, his cheeks swollen and fluttering. Ness moved past them, but though the distance between them grew, somehow Picky's bawling did not sound any quieter.

"Ness?" Paula was there, "Shouldn't you go home? Your mother must want to see you."

Picky's whimpering continued even as the last crumbs of the cookies disappeared into Porky's mouth.

"I remember that time when we were trapped in the underground room, Ness. The one in Threed. We were waiting for Jeff to come for us. And Ness, you were crying because you wanted to go home. You were sobbing even when Jeff arrived, and your tears didn't stop until you located a telephone and called your mother."

Ness kept walking.

"Then, the first chance we got, we went back to your home. After you learned to Teleport, that was the first place we went. Yes, I know, it wasn't you who wanted to go back there. It was I who asked you to go and visit your family. You didn't want to, you said — you just did not have any particular desire to do so. You were indifferent. But you did return, and your mother was so happy to see you. She even made steak for all of us.

Ness stopped walking.

"Jeff and Poo don't live with their parents, so they don't have any such obligations. But you — you should take care of your mother, too. You shouldn't make her worry too much. It's been four weeks since you last visited, and eight weeks since you set off on your mission."

Ness turned around and headed towards his house.

"Where are you going, Ness? You should head home…"

Ness arrived at the front door of the house with the blue roof.

"…I'll leave matters to you, here on out. Goodbye, Ness. I'm going to meet my mother and father."

Ness swung open the door and quietly entered, closing the door behind him. Pervading through the grey house was the smell of something burning. On the grey table nearby was a telephone. Sleeping on a grey rug was King, his eyes closed and ears drooping, the old white dog apparently not particularly excited at Ness's return.

And sitting at the dining table were his mother and sister, the two of them having some dull brown cookies, unperturbed by the grey smoke that was rising from the stove. But they noticed him coming in.

"Ness! Oh, Ness! You're back!"

His mother rose from her seat, her hands on her mouth. Then she ran towards him and embraced him so tightly he struggled to breathe.

"Ness! I'm so glad to see that you're smiling so widely. You've not come here for four weeks. You stopped calling two weeks ago. I was worried something had happened to you. That something had broken you, in more ways than one. But you've grown so strong! Even now, you're smiling!"

Then they were seated at the table, all of them munching away at the cookies. His mother told him stories of what had been happening at home while he had been gone.

"Things have really changed since you started on your adventure, Ness. For instance, we don't seem to eat steak as often. I don't have as much laundry to do. And Tracy has taken up a part-time job with the Escargo Express, as you know, so she isn't home for much of the day, either. She's made some friends there, and spends time with them after work. King? King hasn't been moving around much lately. He's been almost unresponsive, though I make sure to keep up with his flea baths."

His mother smiled and gulped down some tea. Knowing her, it must be incredibly bitter, perhaps to contrast or be contrasted by the sweetness of the cookies. Not that these cookies were sweet, exactly.

"And your father — of course, he's always away at work. I'm all alone at home."

Ness reached for another cookie—

"You shouldn't have so many at once, Ness," Tracy chided. "You should take that one with you."

Ness put it in his pocket.

"Oh, Ness," his mother smiled, "You should stay here a little. I won't be alone anymore, you know. Let me go and make some steak for you."

His mother rose and went into the kitchen, from where the smoke was only growing thicker.

Then, suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Ness waited for Tracy to go get it, but she wasn't there. King was not there, either. After a few seconds, Ness answered the door.

It was Paula. In her hands, she was holding a large grey teddy bear.

"Here, Ness. Could you hold onto this for me? I'm going to be staying with my parents for a while. I know it must be inconvenient, in the middle of our mission, but this teddy bear will accompany you in my stead."

The colour faded from Paula's being, and she turned as monochrome as the house was from the inside even as it shone brightly from the outside. But at the same time, colour flowed into the teddy bear, giving it a warm brown coat of fur and a red bow-tie. Ness stepped out of the house, crossing the distance with just a few steps, and accepted the stuffed animal.

"Goodbye, Ness."

Ness turned to go back into his house, but instead of it he saw only its burnt remains. The grey smoke that rose from it drained colour from all that it touched. Then he turned around again to where Paula had been, but she was also gone.

On the basis of the rationale that he had already fulfilled Paula's previous request of going home, and also that he had no home to stay at anymore, he decided to continue.

The town passed by, eventually, with its identical trees and differently-shaped houses. If he glanced around, he could sometimes see one of those rabbits staring at him. The town eventually gave way to a forest, but a narrow path snaked through it. He could not possibly lose his way.

As he walked through it, he heard sounds from among the trees. He felt no fear, because these cries, these moans, were not meant to threaten. They begged for mercy and for help, but were muffled as if they were gagged. And so he registered the sounds, but they carried no meaning. They hardly reached Ness, entering through one ear and leaving through the other without stopping at his brain.

"I can't help but think back to the night that started this for me," Jeff said, "The night Paula called me in my dream and asked me to come help you two."

Ness stopped walking and glanced up. Jeff was sitting on a tree branch, which was surprising because, as far as Ness knew, Jeff did not know how to climb trees.

"I couldn't believe it, in all honestly. It seemed to transcend the realm of possibility; to acknowledge this call was irrational. I would've dismissed it as a dream, just another dream. But she told me that someone was crying. It was you who was crying. I think I could somehow hear you crying in my dream, too. Though Paula's words felt false, your crying was too… authentic for me to ignore."

Jeff paused.

"But you're smiling now. You're always smiling, no matter the gravity of the situation, no matter how threatening the opponents are… your grin makes you seem like an entirely different person from then, you know that?"

Jeff paused again, closed his eyes, and listened.

"Can you hear it? Of course you can. Someone — no, there are many of them — it seems that they are crying."

Jeff hopped down from the tree branch and led Ness off the path, into the darkness between the trees. There, lying on the ground, were several shapes. Ness recognized a Manly Fish and its Brother. Their mouths were stitched shut, and though the Manly Fish continued to squirm helplessly, the Brother did not move. In the darkness, neither the Fish nor the Brother retained any discernible colour.

"Ah," Jeff said, pointing to a wound on the Manly Fish's stomach, "I believe I was the one who shot it there."

Ness examined the Manly Fish's Brother. He did not need to take out the stitches in its mouth; its wounds spoke for themselves.

"You—" the Manly Fish weakly pointed at Ness, "I remember… when you… batted away my Brother. He tells me that it still hurts."

"You're very powerful, Ness, and very dangerous. But," Jeff smiled, "It's as you said. We never fight except when it's truly necessary. Never. Never. Neeever."

Ness touched the Manly Fish's wounds, then its Brother's. Under the effects of his healing PSI, colour flowed from his hands and into his enemies.

Then they vanished. Jeff had apparently also taken this opportunity to leave.

The moaning, all over the forest, stopped. Ness realized he had not even noticed when Picky's crying had stopped. And yet, his hands cried from the excruciating pain that was now theirs.

A narrow stream, not devoid of colour, trickled by between the trees, almost as if placed there specifically to beckon him over. But no matter how much Ness tried washing his hands in the water, the colour would not return to them.

Ness had no choice but to return to the narrow path through the forest and proceed.

As the forest cleared, he came to the edge of a large lake, its water constantly shifting hues from green to purple, and winding path bridging the way to the centre, which was clouded by a deep, smoky darkness. To the side was another house, one inhabited by five Flying Men before they had all died fighting by Ness's side…

Ness was snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of something buzzing around him. Some kind of small insect. With no more thought than anyone else would invest into swatting a fly, he smacked it out of the air. It froze, then suddenly dropped to the ground at his feet. Ness paid it no mind.

"Ness, do you know what I am doing? This is an ancient tradition of Dalaam."

Ness looked down to see Poo kneeling by him, his hands busily working with clay, his fingers shaping the goo into something coherent. Next to him was an oven that seemed to run without any power source.

As Ness watched, Poo shaped the clay into a gravestone. He dug a small hole and placed the dead insect in it. It was this that piqued Ness's curiousity enough for him to examine the insect that he had thought insignificant.

Ness could sense its PSI, fading away as its life force was. Then its life drained out entirely.

It was Buzz Buzz.

Poo covered the hole.

"Ness, the expression on your face… is this gravestone to your liking? Or do you simply pretend to be impressed by my work? I cannot tell. In any case, before I can set this clay gravestone by the body of this dead insect, I must bake it in order to harden the clay, to ensure that it stands stalwart through the ravages of time."

Ness looked at the gravestone Poo had created. Though small, it was expertly crafted, with "Buried here, may you watch over us from the stars" carved into it. It was a work of art in itself. Then Ness realized that Poo had also created five more gravestones, presumably for the Flying Men.

"Ah, Ness, I remember… you were with me during my Mu trial, in mind if not in body. If you lent me strength at that time, I thank you. Would I have had the strength to let go of my legs, my arms, my ears and my eyes without your will reinforcing my own? I do not know."

Poo placed the gravestones inside the oven, then started heating them.

"And after losing all of that, would I have had the strength to refuse to let go of my mind? Letting go of my mind would have ended the pain then and there. And yet, if I had let go of my mind, I would not be who I was, who I still am. I would have been someone different, an empty husk possessed by my ancestor. My ancestor's ancient skill, honed over the years, would have imparted upon me great strength, perhaps. But from the inside, I would have been hollow."

Poo paused.

"It would have been someone else molding me to their own liking, just as I am molding this clay."

Suddenly, Ness heard a loud rumble from inside the oven, almost like an explosion. The oven started to smoke, and Poo quickly turned it off. He took out the gravestones. Only pieces of them remained.

"Alas. I must have made a mistake."

Poo drew a sword — from where, Ness did not know. It appeared to be the Sword of Kings, though it was missing its usual emerald green lustre.

Poo then proceeded to cut his own stomach with it. As life left him, the sword regained its colour and shone brightly.

"You see, Ness, while working with clay… you cannot allow air bubbles to be trapped inside. If there are any, they might cause your clay figure to explode when heated, no matter how impressive it appears to be from the outside. And the exploding clay figure might harm the other ones, too, as this one has done."

Poo seemed to have cut an important blood vessel. He bled out and died.

Still clutching the teddy bear, Ness proceeded, the coloured teddy bear a beacon in the now-colourless surroundings.

Ness stepped onto the winding path that would lead him to the truth about himself. Nothing barred his way — in the five times he had already tried to go through this area, he had cleared it of any potential threats. And in any case, they could have not possibly scared him.

Ness reached the end of the path, up to a rock that rose and narrowed into what resembled a spike, but was smooth to the touch. As he touched it, he found himself in the water.

The Sea of Eden. Once again.

Ness swam through the water. The Krakens had attacked him here, but he had not been afraid; he had taken care of them quite handily. As Ness swam, he tried to keep the teddy bear as dry as possible, for it was the only bright object in his dully coloured surroundings.

But at the centre waited for him the only thing in this world that struck fear into his heart. His Nightmare.

For the sixth time, Ness pulled himself up to the small island at the centre of the Sea of Eden, where the statue rested motionless.

"I am the negative part of your mind. You cannot defeat me, for you are the one who forced me into being."

Those words, those very same words, every single time. He would have liked to blame its existence on Giygas's influence, but the rational part of his brain told him that his Nightmare was intrinsic to him, no one's fault but his own.

Ness, still holding tightly onto the teddy bear, charged, his bat swinging even before he reached his destination, and connecting with its target the moment he did. A crack erupted along the statue's length, snaking into countless smaller cracks that spread through its surface.

Finally, after all the times his bat had harmlessly bounced off the statue's defenses, he had managed to leave a mark. Somehow, the statue was weaker now, almost as if its power supply had been cut off.

Ness's hair stood on end as he realized what was coming, rolling out of the way just as a searing blast of black and white obliterated the ground where he had just been standing. As the wave of energy traveled, it sucked out the colour — what little there was — from everything around it, taking the appearance of a dimmer version of his own signature PSI.

This was what had brought all of his previous attempts to an end. There was no way to escape his own evils, he had learned that by now. As long as this darkness existed, it would continue to pursue him forever.

The wave of energy changed direction, homing in on him, just like last time and all the times prior. Ness closed his eyes, but not seeing his own doom would not erase it from existence.

Ness felt his body airborne, blasted away by his own attack. Then he felt his body crash into the water, desperately trying to heal himself before it was too late. His eyes narrowly open, he could see his own body nearly devoid of colour. In his hand, he still held what remained of the teddy bear — just one arm.

It had buffered the brunt of the attack.

Ness flailed his arms before regaining himself and swimming to the surface. As he pulled himself back onto land, the statue continued to loom over him. It was this lack of expression that made it so unpredictable, and the fear of the unknown was the most primal of fears.

Intent not to give it a chance, Ness charged forward yet again, swinging his bat with as much strength as he could muster at this point. Another burst of energy erupted from the statue, but Ness felt his own hit connect at that very moment.

Before his eyes closed, he saw the statue burst into pieces and vanish.

* * *

The place where Ness woke up was warm and sunny, but the snowman wasn't melting.

Ness blinked a few times, but it didn't take long for his eyes to adjust to the sunlight. In front of him, he could see the house with the blue roof.

He rose to his feet and immediately walked in, quietly closing the door behind him.

Pervading through the brightly-lit house was the smell of steak. On the table nearby was a telephone. Sleeping on a blue rug was King, his eyes closed, but his ears perked up as Ness walked in.

And sitting at the dining table were his mother and sister, who suddenly looked up at Ness, then at each other.

"Mommy! I told you Ness would be back today!"

His mother rose from her seat, her hands on her mouth. Then she ran towards him and gently embraced him.

"Ness! There, there… there's no need to cry, dear."

She wiped his tears.

"I missed you, too. You… you haven't been here for eight whole weeks. But you must have grown into a really kind boy — your friends have been waiting for you all this time."

His mother walked to the kitchen, and called from there.

"Look, we've even prepared some steak for you. Tracy just knew you'd be coming today. Eat your fill, because your friends are waiting for you to wake up afterwards."

She walked into the room with the steak.

"Ah, but before you go, I think you better change out of your jammies. Look, I've even got your red cap here!"


End file.
